Frank L. Battisti

Frank L. Battisti is conductor of the Wind Ensemble and Director of Wind Ensemble Activities at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Massachusetts. Under Mr. Battisti’s leadership, the Ensemble has established a national and international reputation for being one of the premiere ensembles of its kind in the United States. It has performed often at music conferences, in live radio concert broadcasts over the National Public Radio (NPR) Network and recorded for Centaur and Golden Crest Records.

During the past 40 years Frank L. Battisti has been responsible for commissioning and premiering many works for wind ensemble by distinguished American and foreign composers including Warren Benson, Leslie Bassett, Robert Ceely, John Harbison, Robin Holloway, William Thomas McKinley, Vincent Persichetti, Michael Colgrass, Daniel Pinkham, Gunther Schuller, Robert Selig, Sir Michael Tippett, Ivan Tcherepnin, Robert Ward and Alec Wilder. Critics and colleagues have praised Battisti for his commitment to contemporary music and his outstanding performances.

Battisti is a very active guest conductor, having directed many professional, university, college, military and high school ensembles in the United States, England, Europe, Middle East, Scandanavia, Australia, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Russia.

He has held numerous national offices in various wind band/ensemble associations including President of the U.S. College Band directors National Association (CBDNA). Battisti is a member of the American Bandmasters Association (ABA) and founder of the National Wind Ensemble Conference, World Association of Symphonic Bands and Ensembles (WASBE), Massachusetts Youth Wind Ensemble (MYWE) and co-founder of the New England College Band Association (NECBA). He has served on the Standard Award Panel of ASCAP and been a member of the Music Panel of Arts Recognition and Talent Search (ARTS) for the National Foundation for Advancement of the Arts. Battisti is presently a consulting editor for The Instrumentalist magazine and in the past has been a consulting editor for music publishers G. Schirmer and E.C. Schirmer.

Battisti constantly contributes articles on wind band/ensemble literature, conducting and music education to professional journals and magazines and is considered on of the foremost authorities on wind music literature. He is co-author, with Robert Garofalo, of Score Study for the Wind Band Conductor published in 1990 by Meredith Music Publications.

From January through July in 1986 and in 1993 he was a Visiting Fellow at Clare Hall, Cambridge University, England. Battisti has received many awards and honors including the Edwin Franko Goldman Award from the American School Band Directors National Association in 1989 and an Honorary Doctor of Music degree from Ithaca College in May 1992.